Students learn lessons through service

Thursday

Jan 27, 2011 at 12:53 PM

By PHIL DEVITT

By PHIL DEVITT

Fall River Spirit Editor

In Fall River and throughout SouthCoast last week, Martin Luther King Jr.'s spirit was alive and well.

On the heels of the celebrated civil rights leader's birthday, children demonstrated their own leadership through several community service projects overseen by SouthCoast Serves, a UMass Dartmouth-based collaborative of more than 35 nonprofits.

At Kuss Middle School in Fall River on Jan. 19, students decorated 84 denim squares that will be assembled into a quilt for a member of the military serving overseas. Each square bore the unique stamp of the child to whom it was entrusted.

"Thank you," several squares read.

"Thanks for peace and love," read another.

"Thanx for freedom."

"God bless you and thanks for your service."

Sarah Coyne, an AmeriCorp Vista volunteer who is spending a year working on service projects throughout southeastern Massachusetts, said the children were getting the message.

"All of these squares are the product of these kids' imaginations and hearts," she said, as the quilt took shape feet away on the floor of a classroom. "I hope they recognize that service isn't always picking up cans and bottles on the side of the street. It can be important and fun at the same time. We encourage people to live lives of service."

Ashlee Mastrangelo looked on with pride as students lined their squares up on the floor, getting a glimpse of how the quilt would look when it was finally sewn and shipped overseas.

"These are some of the most engaged students — a great group of young leaders," Mastrangelo said of the students she works with on different projects every week. Mastrangelo is a UMass Dartmouth student and member of the school's LEADS (Leadership for Educational Attainment Developed through Service) program. "The kids are excited whenever they get to do something like this that's hands-on and tangible."

Jarrad Plante, LEADS team leader, said the program is a collaboration between UMass Dartmouth and the Fall River and New Bedford school districts. University students work with public school students throughout the year on various projects ultimately to increase civic engagement, instill leadership skills and give students an appreciation for the importance of education, Plante said.

"We want the students to create something sustainable, something that allows them to leave a legacy and say, 'Look at what I've done,'" Plante said.

Several days later, several students from Morton Middle School were hard at work painting a mural inside the lobby of South Coastal Counties Legal Services on Bedford Street. The mural, which depicted a city skyline with multicolored hands reaching up to the sky, took several hours to complete.

It won't be the last project, leaders said. More service learning events are being planned for Fall River students who are ready and waiting to give back.

Phil Devitt can be reached at editor@fallriverspirit.com or (508) 979-4492.